This is our Benitoite Mine Gravel Pack #10
In this pack you get 10 pounds of raw ore gravel that was mined by us directly at the mine. This gravel has not been searched in anyway. We dug it, sifted it once to remove most of the lose dirt and giant rock and then filled our buckets.
The ore gravel is mostly covered in dirt and is randomly scooped into each gravel pack, so we have no way of knowing what might be in each bag.
Please see our How To page, for proper ways to search for Benitoite.
I can tell you that we dug for ourselves at the same area we took this gravel from. After washing what we had dug up, we came home with some unbelievable specimens and stones.
Even if we cannot say exactly what you might find, we do take every effort to make sure that you will find something. We do not add or remove material from the packs, but we do blacklight every pack as it is filled, first to make sure that you are not surprised by finding any scorpions, and secondly to make sure that we are seeing fluorescence.
The gravel is mostly covered in dirt and is randomly scooped into each gravel pack, so we have no way of knowing what might be in each bag. You might find some facet rough or specimen material, just like mining, you never know.
You may find some specimen material, some triangle floaters or some benitoite rough for faceting or cabbing. Benitoite is very rare. If you find a single cuttable crystal you have done well.
You just never know, just like digging at the mine. Please remember that all mining is a gamble! Miners say "You could be one inch from a million or a million inches from one". The more gravel you go thru, the greater your chances. We strongly suggest the use of a "Filtered" Short wave UV light when searching your gravel, since many of the pieces found are crossite included and can be easily missed.
If you know benitoite, then you know just one nice specimen or one small gem quality crystal can easily pay for the cost of this bag and then some!
Benitoite specimens start in the $50 range and go into the thousands! Average prices for specimens are in the hundreds of dollars. Gem quality stones over a carat in size, once cut start at $6500 per carat and go up rapidly from there!
